32 
Brieger and Fraenkel," however, call attention to the fact that in 
1890, in the Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, No. 11, page 612, they 
describe a process for obtaining a dried tetanus poison and experi- 
ments with the same. 
Whoever owns priority, the method is a very good one, and with it 
we have succeeded in obtaining strong and stable poisons. 
MODE OF ACTION OF TETANUS TOXINE. 
For a full understanding of the problem with which we are dealing 
it is important to have a clear conception of the way in which the 
tetanus toxine exerts its poisonous effects upon the body. There- 
fore the following re^dew of the literature upon this question has 
been introduced. 
It has been known since ancient times that tetanus toxine affects 
chiefly the central nervous system, but it is only comparatively 
recently that it has been experimentally demonstrated in what way 
the toxine reaches the nervous centers. 
Gumprecht ^ first showed with some degree of certainty that the 
toxine attacks particularly the spinal cord and that the phenomenon 
of the disease depends upon this cord poisoning. 
Bruschettinni,^' 1892, demonstrated the presence of the toxine in 
the central and peripheral nervous system after subcutaneous inocu- 
lation. He also showed it to be present in the blood, but that the 
other organs were free from it. 
Brunner, 1892, in experiments upon guinea pigs and rabbits, 
found that the tetanus poison was not able to cause the tetanic con- 
tractions when placed directly upon the muscle substance. After 
paralysis of the motor nerve terminals by curare the tetanus con- 
tractions ceased. He -found, however, that the tetanus toxine is not 
able to cause spasms in a muscle area the motor nerve of which has 
been severed from its center. In view of the first fact, it followed 
that a motor nerve severed from its center is not able to produce 
tetanus contractions. 
Brunner further concluded that the poison was able to induce 
tetanic spasms in the muscles of a particular nerve area only when 
the paths to the corresponding nerve centers are intact. 
^Brieger, Ludwig, and Fraenkel, Carl: Herr Buchner und das trockene Tetanus- 
gift. Deut. med. Woch., vol. 20, 1894, p. 118. 
^ Gumprecht: Versuche iiber die physiologische Wirkung des Tetanusgiftes im 
Organismus. Arch. f. Physiol. 
c Bruschettinni, Alessandro: Sulla diffusione del veleno del tetano neH’organismo. 
La riforma med., vol. 8, part 3, 1892, pp. 256-259. 
Brunner, Conrad; Zur Pathogenese des Kopftetanus. Berk klin. tVoch., 1891. 
; Die bisherigen Resultate experimenteller Llntersuchungen iiber die Art 
der Wirkung des Tetanusgiftes auf das Nervensystem. Deut. med. Woch., vol. 20, 
1894, pp. 100-103. 
